Our Garden Essentials
At Bricoleur Vineyards, we believe the garden is one of life's great pleasures. It's where we grow the olives pressed into our estate oil, tend the vegetables that are used in our kitchen, and enjoy the brevity of each season that makes each day feel special. We've rounded up our favorite gardening essentials: tools, books, and little luxuries that make time in the garden feel like exactly what it should be.
Every good garden season starts with the right tools, and few things are as satisfying as a great pair of shears. Modern Sprout's Garden Shears are spring-loaded, with an ergonomic, no-slip handle and extra-sharp high carbon steel blades with a needle-nose tip for easy pruning and harvesting of delicate plants and herbs. These shears are as good-looking as they are functional. This is the pair you'll reach for every single time.
For carrying your harvest, look no further than a vintage wicker basket from your local thrift shop. Baskets like this can usually be found for about $5 – $15, and there's just something special about bringing in tomatoes or zucchini in a worn, beautiful basket that has clearly lived a life before yours. It doesn't need to be fancy, just sturdy.
Sun care is one of the most important yet often forgotten aspects of gardening. Vacation Inc.'s Classic Lotion SPF 50 was developed in conjunction with ARQUISTE Parfumeur, and its award-winning signature scent combines notes of coconut, banana, pool water, and swimsuit fabric, an instantly transporting combination that makes it hard to believe this is also a high-performing, broad-spectrum sunscreen. It's clean, lightweight, water-resistant for 80 minutes, and streak-free on all skin tones. Slather it on before you head out. You'll literally smell just like summer.
And for your head: Madewell's Hand-Crocheted Seamless Bucket Hat in Raffia is a bestselling summer staple crafted from 100% woven raffia with an interior grosgrain band for added comfort. It's effortlessly stylish, keeps the sun off your face, and goes from garden to farmers market without missing a beat.
When you're out there doing the hard work, you'll want something to keep your clothes (relatively) clean, and keep all of your tools at arms' reach. The Williams Sonoma Gardening Apron is expertly sewn of water-repellent waxed canvas with shoulder pads and reinforced edging, plus 12 pockets for tools, gloves, seeds, and a phone. The cotton canvas straps crisscross in back to prevent neck and back strain and adjust easily with a smart buckle for the perfect fit. It's worth the investment!
Flamingo Estate's Fridays from the Garden, written by founder Richard Christiansen with a foreword by Martha Stewart, collects over 150 recipes from a year spent at Flamingo Estate. Part cookbook, part love letter to regenerative farming, it's the story of a house that became a brand and a brand that became an inspiration for finding pleasure in the garden. This is the book you pull out when you want to cook what you just harvested.
Martha Stewart's Gardening Handbook is the first fully comprehensive gardening guide from Martha in more than 30 years, covering soil composition, plant hardiness zones, planning, and plant selection across annuals, perennials, succulents, vegetables, herbs, trees, and shrubs. Filled with stunning photography from her personal gardens and practical guidance for beginners and experienced gardeners alike, it's an essential reference for any serious grower.
After a long morning in the garden, come inside to this: Flamingo Estate's Heirloom Tomato Candle captures the supple, green essence of balmy summer days in the garden, evoking ripe tomatoes hanging from freshly watered vines, their leaves at their most fragrant. Hand-poured in Los Angeles from non-GMO soy wax, anchored by wild-harvested Tarragon and Black Pepper essential oil, it releases an intoxicating, herbaceous aroma that lingers long after the flame is out. Guests will always ask what it is. That's how you'll know you've made the right choice.
No gardening essentials list from Bricoleur would be complete without our own estate olive oil. Our Estate Extra Virgin Olive Oil is made from more than 200 olive trees planted across our estate, including Italian varieties Leccino, Frantoio, and Pendolino, as well as Spanish Arbequina. The olives are handpicked at peak ripeness, cold-pressed within 12 hours of harvest at a certified organic facility, and never filtered or heated. The resulting oil has a deep golden hue and rich texture, with pretty aromas of butter and dried grass leading to a round, buttery palate with notes of dried grass and Marcona almonds. It's a finishing oil, a dipping oil, a drizzle-over-everything oil. When you harvest your first veggies of the season, all you need to enjoy them is a little evoo, salt & pepper.
Gravel & Gold's "A Garden for All Seasons" is a 24-page coloring book featuring what might be blooming, growing, or ripe throughout every season of the year, printed in San Francisco. It's the perfect rainy afternoon companion, and a quiet, meditative way to stay close to the garden even when you're not in it.
And for the little gardeners in your life: Joanna Gaines' We Are the Gardeners is a number-one New York Times bestselling picture book chronicling the Gaines family's adventures starting their own family garden, from failed endeavors and bunny-related obstacles to all the knowledge gained along the way. With whimsical watercolor illustrations and lessons in patience, hard work, and learning from mistakes, it's designed for children ages 4 to 8 and makes a beautiful gift for any family with a budding green thumb.
Whether you're an experienced grower or someone who just bought their first seed packet, the garden is always ready for you. We hope these finds make your season a little more beautiful, a little more nourishing, and a little more delicious. And of course, when the work is done, there's always a glass of Bricoleur waiting for you.
If you're not quite sure where to begin, Farmer Mikey hosts a wine variety of garden classes throughout the season, including classes specifically designed for kids & families!
